Fascinating food in New York and occasionally farther afield

East New York

Deconstructed: My caldo de bagre, catfish soup served at this "coffee shop & restaurant" on Saturday and Sunday only, featured a hefty fish steak, high but not dry. I gathered that the fish had been simmered in the soup, which, in addition to hunks of cassava and plantain, also concealed fragments of fish on the bone. The lunch set was filled out by a half-avocado, a bowl of steamed rice, and the indispensable sliced lime — in typical coffee-shop style, a raft of other condiments were already close at hand.

If there's another Nigerian bakery somewhere in the five boroughs, I haven't heard of it. Following the launch of its wholesale business last summer and an appearance at October's independence day festival, Naira opened to the public on the former site of a Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, coffee shop. The baker prepares several variations on agege bread, named for a densely populated neighborhood in her first home, Lagos. The bread is very soft, with a lot of "draw," and, especially in the case of this onibeji or "twin" loaf ($3), can readily be pulled apart for sharing. Agege bread is very sweet, too; it's a worthy foil to dense and often spicy West African stews and pottages.

The Garifuna people, also known as the Garinagu, are the ancestors of Africans who were abducted into slavery, shipwrecked in the Caribbean, maltreated by the Caribs, and — after generations of intermarriage between Africans and the local population — exiled, in 1797, to coastal Central America. Perhaps 200,000 people who claim Garifuna heritage now live in New York, though firm figures are elusive: A check-the-box census is a poor tool for putting a firm number on a people who are part African, part Caribbean, and part Central American.

During New York's summer soccer season, a favorite Garifuna gathering place is just outside Linden Park, in East New York, Brooklyn. On Sunday afternoons and early evenings, a line of tented stalls offer food native to Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, as well as Haiti and Guyana, in an atmosphere evocative of the Red Hook ball fields in the old days. Perhaps the canopies are smaller and the vendors, fewer, but early evening percussion-driven jam sessions more than compensate. Labor Day weekend is the high point of the summer, several vendors have told me.

Shown on the EIT page on Facebook: a garnacha, a deep-fried corn tortilla whose most colorful topping was pickled onions; a pair of shark panades (as in "empanadas"); salbutes, cousins to the garnacha made from wheat-flour tortillas, in this case featuring shredded chicken; conch fritters; a potent tamarind drink; a mini beef pastry; salt fish and bake; cod fritters; a coconut tart (more widely known, in the Caribbean, as a gizzarda); and a "milk cake" with condensed-milk frosting on a pineapple-cake foundation. Grand total for the lot: about $20. Though judutu is unlikely ever to appear, various plate meals can be assembled to handle larger appetites.

Linden Park food vendorsVermont St. near Linden Blvd., East New York, BrooklynSunday only, early afternoon till early evening, while the nearby soccer fields are hosting league play (roughly June through September)

This sighting was a surprise. Previously on EIT, I've noted that M&M Obama Deli, Obama Country Deli, and Obama Fried Chicken all have closed their doors. Their fate, however, was probably tied less to the president's approval rating than to the volatility of small businesses in general, and food-related businesses in particular. All three shuttered establishments took up the Obama name at least five years ago — an eternity in many New York neighborhoods nowadays — for the president's first term. This deli-grocery opened only in 2013, during his second.

Also shown, from just down the street: the Highland Park Carniceria Deli, a.k.a. Sandwich Heaven, and the Survival Grocery Deli.

These wheels aren't functional in the usual sense — note the leafy debris beginning to accumulate beneath the tires, which are snugged up against the facade of a brick-and-mortar building — but they aren't simply decorative, either. At one time this business was run from a food truck, with a menu that surely featured the namesake Dominican sandwich. (I've never been a big fan, myself, of the classic chimichurri, but I do have fond memories of a certain chimi burger.) As at the El Tapatio "truck" in Richmond, California, the proprietors of Rico Chimi are laying claim to street cred.

These messages first came to wide attention during the autumn of 2013, notably near Washington, D.C. and in New York. One reporter, though unable at the time to trace numerous sightings back to the source, did propose a reasonable if vague origin story. By the looks of this sticker, compared with its neighbors — all of them affixed to a pole on a bleak but well-traveled stretch of Jamaica Ave. — the trail is still fresh. Perhaps some EIT reader can tell us more.

If Edna's had seats, people might park themselves here all afternoon. But there's just one windowside ledge, standing room only, looking out on the passing traffic along the border of Bed-Stuy and Brownsville. A more enticing view, with all its attendant aromas, was right up close: rosemary chicken with cabbage and collard greens (small, $5). The cabbage, interspersed with slivers of carrot, was well-dosed with black pepper; the greens, flavored with bits of turkey wing, were not bitter in the least. Nice chicken skin; too bad you can't order extra skin on the side.